The Big Game

The Big Game (1-24)

Written by: Susan Sherman

Storyboard by: Shawn Björklund and Antoine Guilbaud

Directed by: Timothy Björklund

Date of airdate: December 3rd 2004 (According to epguides.com, but it may be playing anywhere before that date)

Synopsis: Brandy from the Jungle Juggernauts make a deal with Gaspard and his team of Rainforest Howlers to win the next Coocoo-Nut Ball.

P.S.: In the moment you tent to read this article, let me remind you a thing-- I haven't known anything about the "Brandy & Mr. Whiskers" 11-minutes segments before I tent to reviewing these. I haven't fully watched the show in years, but instead of the original english voice-cast, all I do remembered from the series was from the 2008s YouTube featuring the Spanish-dubbing cast version of the show. And albeit the series was finally remastered in HD and that did looked out better than before, the presentation was another victim of the rampant "Photoshopped" titles, those that are typical from most foreign newer prints of past shows like the way in 2020, a Post-production house has remastered the remaining of the Warner Bros. cartoons library with such dreaded results like this. For the need of this blog, we're fully compelling the show with the older, Standard version of the series, like the way it was originally created and made by what we have to do. Thank you!

What can I say from this, except UGH?

This is mostly where the show fallen directly to a very uncomfortable pattern. Kevin Quinn tried to elaborate a sport score in the background for help sells us that the characters are in competition, but it's more overbearing than entertaining. Everything is been predictable or repetitive.

It's all bad because there is some pretty cool camera zoomies and perspective shots when the Brandy's team of Jungle Juggernauts practice for the next game. Lola, Cheryl, Meryl, Ed and Mr. Whiskers are parts of her team, but a lot of things don't quite work right, like Mr. Whiskers' attempt to be part of the team and especially, Brandy's domination to win.

The next scene where Whiskers makes a touchdown would be a neat idea if... the rabbit did respected the rules to reach the ball in the other team side. But otherwise, blah!

A Gaspard wearing a weird hat and trenchcoat (Much like a bad Edward G. Robinson impression there. Who made that in 2004?) challenged the Brandy's team to defeat them in the next Coocoo-Nut Ball game will be easily a fun script if its handling correctly, but everything here is wasted where the characters been grouchy each other, especially to the rabbit. (Again!)

And... that was it, I guess. This is hard to reviewing and critiquing a cartoon episode that is not frankly great to begin with. It have to do with my French-Canadian nature to complaining and arguing, but this is much a formulaic competition episode than something that will make sense on the Amazon Rainforest Jungle. The scene where the Gaspard's Rainforest Howlers do their ball practice shot on a rainy day gives a pretty effective emotional moment for the audience, but mixed it of the Football and Hockey game is a little out-of-logistic here. At least, we have an idea that the urban pair is now domesticated to their newer environment.

The next day, the practice is on for THE BIG GAME, and really, seeing Ed getting the biggest thuds and Whiskers trying to grab the ball are left with a big disservice that the show itself has no chance to surviving any longer. But it getting two seasons as opposed of one? Brandy's savvy way to win at all cost is all the more blatant when she was more nice to Ed's lack of competence on the sport and then, blame and fired Whiskers for no reason. This is where the show's crew start to going in a upside down direction that will affect otherwise all the Season 2's outlets.

Chill Out, Brandy! It is just a game, but that's not enough for her!

The next scene is about Whiskers in the treehouse to complain of Brandy's overdestruction of her sport attitude and to have evicted him out the team for a while by be more nice to Ed. When the slowpoke otter make his welcomed presence to the house, the rabbit getting a gratifying idea to help boosted Ed's sports skills. A weird and infinitely ugly visual of the rabbit's face when he got an idea is more unsetlling and out-of-character which makes us to tell the impression that the show's writers having more fun to drawn this than actually find a sense to the initial plot: Brandy's addiction to win.

A scene that will turns lots of nightmare for the overseas studio to animated it.

When Mr. Whiskers gotten the perfect idea with not ONE... not TWO... but THREE lightbulb sequences, (See how needlessly long the show become?) the rabbit using Ed to climbing the temple (Last seen in Lame Boy) without to be tired or exhausted.

Playing in the Brandy's actions, the rabbit ordered the otter to climbing the temple again, but with a big boulder and fish in his mouth this time. And even so, wearing at a clown too? That defy the gravity laws, but not with the same sense of purpose than was in the famous ending's wordplay line from Friz Freleng's upper classic High Diving Hare. The show start to poorly encoded the ropes of absurdity by made it more unsensical than anything. This is like watching one of these ugly Teletoon cartoons shows that were made a fewer years later. Ed's response to Whiskers' anxiety after challenged him to climb the temple in order to play with the opposed team "Exhausted? YES! Tired? NO!" is easily one of the more memorable one-liners featuring in this episode and the show for that matter. See how the fandom is nowhere to be found since over a decade now?

  

  

 A clever ESPN reference, if one known that its also owned by Disney, the "actual" owner of this TV show!

Now the game begins, a major surprise comes to mind in where Ed, is finally be part of the Rainforest Howlers in order to make the Brandy's team win. But unfortunately, everything is done badly for the Jungle Juggernauts. When instead, Ed is been more clumsy and awkward, that make the Gaspard's fierce Coocoo-Nut team win. A change of mind to the usual "Heroes wins the game" formula in any TV shows out there but it's rarely a good step if the characters are treating there all like jerks. Though the best part of this is the unnamed monkey sporting host, which it's more memorable than you'll ever expected.

 

After realizing that Brandy's team have losing and that she is been terribly a asshole to Whiskers again, she realized the mistake she's done to Ed while he tried to crash a clam through his tummy in the waterfall. Brandy soon notice that she is not losing anything, well yeah, the game. But her friends are still there at support but despite winning, Gaspard is been on a very humiliating part of an agreement where the call-back ended on the dictator gecko... with Mr. Whiskers on a fancy date. Seriously, THIS IS WHAT THE PRODUCERS HAVING IN MIND FOR ENDED THAT EPISODE?

One of the most rarest times when the series turned to a very homophobic ending gag, something that will be innocent and fine back in the old 20th-century, but even for 2004s standards, the gag turned out to be more offensive for any people who are not heterosexual. It's exactly the kind of gag only a metrosexual (A straight guy who pretending to act at gay) will wrote it. With the LGTBQ+ rights to be neglected by the right-winging class anywhere, I have highly doubts that anyone who is been bullied because of his/her/its gender identity are going to found pleasant to seen Mr. Whiskers and Gaspard together on a night date. And what point of the awkward rabbit trying to wooing the dictator amphibian?

Critique:

Frustratingly mediocre episode that borders at characters been a jerk to each other, despite some impressive camera zoomies in the begin and a radical change of pace to the obligatory "Heroes Wins the Game" "Autopilot" formula. The real problem here is Brandy, period. Here, she is been very grouchy to Whiskers for no reason, challenged Gaspard to lose on her own feet and ultimately, her dominator and sadistic manner to win the Coocoo-Nut Ball game. It's an Ed episode after all and this is the only noteworthy thing says about it. The slowpoke otter voiced by the legendary Spongebob Squarepants' voice-actor, Tom Kenny, makes a rare time to getting more screentime appearence by also pull a focus to delivering the cartoon episode at time on less than 10 minutes. It's an effective achievement that the show's producers will soon to lose. A couple of fun throwaway touches like Whiskers' eerie deformed face when he's getting an idea or the ESPN reference (As written EXSP) is more on the corporative way than anything, considering that the iconic sport channel is owned by none other than The Walt Disney Company itself! Kevin Quinn's "sporting" score is getting more distracting and overbearing than entertaining, which makes wondered us why they have hired him first for some clashed score featuring in the whole show. The villains getting finally a rare chance to win, by the Ed's awkwardness and clumsiness, (By be part of the opposed team due to Whiskers' insistances to make the Brandy's team win!) but its sadly "married" to a very homophobic call-back gag, even so for 2004s standards, few months shy before that the Gays weddings became officially legal after around 40 years of riotings and protestings for homosexuals to gettings the same rights like their heterosexual peers (And when the Coming-Out rage weren't publicized, yet!). This is the kind of production that we would have a better time to enjoyed at an Audible story than to what we could seen in screen. When you portray two same-gender characters having a "night date" together even for a gag (The same thing rear its ugly head on the entire gender-shift part on Freaky Tuesday), you just want the whole series to ended its run.